Lori and I left the backpacker parking in Mono Village at Twin Lakes at 11 am
Friday. The trudge to Horse Creek Passs was uneventful, although almost
unrecognizable to me. I had skiied over here back in the 70s and all the
rubble was buried under snow. We were to learn of some small improvements in
our route on the return yesterday. We camped at the small tarn just over the
pass in the headwaters of Spiller Creek. We had talked of doing Matterhorn
that day, but decided that we might be too tired the following day.

Off bright and early on Saturday for Twin. We headed for the ridge between
Twin and Virginia gaining it easily 100 feet left ( north ) of the junction of
the grey and red rock of Virginia. This was mostly walking in meadows with
some talus. The steeper section below the ridge proved to be grassy ramps.
There were a few ducks. This is the way we should have returned from
Virginia.

RJ says it is best to traverse to the drainage between the two Twin peaks. We
didn't want to drop that far, maybe 800 feet, so we wound up doing the ridge
between Virginia and Twin. This proved to be no fun; lots of third on friable
and loose rock. Shortly after we gained the crest of the ridge, Lori had had
enough, so I continued on to the peak. We descended to the Twin/Virginia
saddle, lots of sidehilling on loose and unstable talus , no fun. The ridge
up Virginia went quickly, class 2 except for a little easy 3rd in an area of
slabs 100 feet below the top.

The long sidehill from the pass back to our camp proved to be the low point of
the trip, seemingly endless sidehilling on loose blocks. From our camp, I
had thought it would be all meadows. As it turned out, that was all that was
visible from there. At this point, I am wondering whether it is really worth
the trouble to work on this SPS list. I hate rubble and there is a lot left
on the peaks I have not done.

Considered in retrospect, it appears preferable to do Twin and Virginia from
Virginia Lakes. This might even be a feasible day hike. If anyone has done
them both ways it would be interesting to hear their thoughts.
Back in camp at two, we had a leisurely lunch. Lori's new boots were hurting
her feet, so I decided to bag Matterhorn. This went quickly even though I was
tired. Where the slope narrowed to a chute toward the top, I stayed to the
right and found the going quite stable ( Thank you Owen ). The route on the
headwall is toward the left edge of the east side and not around the corner on
the south. There might be a move or two of 3-. There was a party on the
summit who had come up the NE arete. The ammo box register is in chaos. The
notebook is full, and the box is stuffed with scraps of paper from bears who
have been climbing the peak in recent years.

Back down and asleep by 7pm.

Up again bright and early for Whorl on Sunday. Lori decided to lounge in camp
and read, so I was on my own. I was quite concerned about this peak, having
read many accounts wherein people had experienced lots of trouble with the
route finding. I had two detailed accounts in addition to RJ.

The previous day, I had studied the route from Virginia with binoculars. RJ
says to start in the chute leading to the saddle between middle and south
peaks. One of the difficulties is that from directly below, this point cannot
be distinguished. I did note, however, that just left ( south ) of the
saddle is a pinnacle of whiter rock than the surrounding rock which is a bit
greyer. This did prove to be noticeable, although it is only slightly whiter
than the surrounding rock. Also, the correct chute is the only one which
comes all the way down through the maize of broken slabs. Some additional
observations:

While walking out on the bench, pass the small tarn and snowfield.
Go well past the smooth orange wall ( up high ) with many sinuous straight in
cracks.

The correct chute is class 2 and climbs a long ways. Toward the top it fans
out and there is a rib separating the two forks. I stayed right. It is
apparent that one must get over the rib to the right. I found the correct
crossing thru a small notch ( there are several ) which is 100 feet above the
last clump of stunted trees. From the rib, the famous chockstone is visible
above and off right. Immediately right is an orange slab with a dozen
horizontal dikes, an easy ( 3- ) friction traverse. I dropped down and into
the second chute, which also fans out toward its top. Some easy broken ledges
and one more rib leads into the third ( chockstone ) chute. A horizontal
crack/ ledge led across the rib, really more of a slab. A few hand traverse
moves at the start ( bucket hands and good feet ) and then one can just walk
across the rest ( 3- ). The chockstone is 100 feet of scree above.

There is a little snow under it. Climbing behind it is quite dark and
labyrinthine, squeezing and weaving through wedged blocks. I thought of
leaving the pack here and in retrospect should have as the peak was now only
15 minutes away. Above the chockstone, class 2 led to the ridge and then up
right to the most astounding feature of the whole climb, the class 1 sidewalk
all the way across the smooth and steep upper west face. This ledge is 3
feet wide, flat, and in places even has a guard rail. This delivers one back
to the east face. From here, more class 2 up and right leads directly to the
peak. I was on top a little before 10 am. Unlike the day before, there was
no wind and I actually lingered a few minutes on the summit. I rate Whorl one
of the best peaks in the entire Sierra. If one can unerringly follow the
route, it is quite easy and goes quickly. It is shocking how little of the
route is actual class 3, perhaps less than 50 feet total in the two traverses
and maybe behind the chockstone. The sidwalk is really the key to this route,
without it there might be pitch after pitch of fifth class.

Back with Lori not too soon after, we packed up and hiked out. One note on
the use trail up Horse Creek. About halfway up the large talus slope there
are two buttresses, the left one white and the right one reddish. We stayed
left of the white one going up, but came down to the right ( looking up ) of
the reddish one coming down. It is steep, but the use trail switchbacks
neatly up through this section mostly on dirt.

The Mono Cone in Lee Vining has upgraded their shakes and now make them with
real fruit.